Slight of hand

HEIDI TOTH - Daily Herald

Miss Utah USA Soben Huon got a little lost in transition. The Brigham Young University senior, who leaves next week for Baltimore to participate in the Miss USA pageant, was left scrambling to find funds after the Utah pageant franchise changed hands and she was suddenly without sponsors. So she turned to her friends, and now Rick Kinateder, the bishop of her LDS ward, pulled out all the stops to throw Huon a festive fund-raising dinner party on Wednesday and send her off in style. "I know that she's very sensitive to not badmouth the former group or hurt the name of the program," he said of Huon, whom he has known about two years. "I think it was just kind of an in-between unfortunate thing that just happened." Huon declined to talk about the mishap, preferring instead to focus on the fund-raising effort and the pageant, she said. The Miss Universe organization awarded the franchise to a different company this year, which had sponsorships lined up for next year, Kinateder said. The original sponsorships shouldn't be affected by a change in management, though, said Tricia Langa, the director of domestic license for Miss Universe. "The outgoing state director does in fact have an obligation to fulfill the sponsorships," she said. "To our knowledge, everything is OK." So instead, Huon's raising money the old-fashioned way; Kinateder is making paella, the national dish of Spain, the BYU Ballroom Dancers are providing entertainment and Huon will display her dresses and mingle with the crowd. It's also a chance for participants to wish her well, as she's leaving Sunday for Baltimore. "It's a fun presentation dish," Kinateder said of the paella; it's full of chicken, pork, chorizo, calamari, mussels, clams and prawn shrimp, as well as saffron rice. It's named for a pan, which adds to the fun of it, he said. He got the idea when trying to figure out what he could cook, and that he could cook. Huon is majoring in political science and after graduating plans to attend Stanford Law School. The dinner party is at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the ballroom at Provo's Academy Square; tickets are available for a minimum donation of $20. Tickets are available by calling (801) 491-5052. This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page B1. Source: http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/172114/

---

TKPN
PageantCast Home
Frappr Map
Podcast Pickle Page
Our Feed
One Click Subscribe in Juice
One Click Subscribe in iTunes